Western States 100 Trail - Part 1

Back in the USA in October and with the Coronavirus issue still impacting our lives I started to look for another challenge.  Completing the TRT earlier in the summer made me think of another run and what I came up with was completing the bits of the Western States 100 mile Trail that I hadn’t already done.  

I had done the pieces from Foresthill to Auburn many times but had not ventured on the beginning part in the high sierras.  This was not going to be so easy as the TRT as some of the parts in the first 60 or so miles are quite remote and of course everything would have to be done as an out and back to get me back to my transportation.

The base of Squaw Valley

On Wednesday, 21 October I decided to make a start and I drove up in the early morning to Squaw Valley to do the first 10 miles of the course.  It was already cold up there and at 8:00 am my car registered 32 degrees.  So there was a definite chill in the air as I started up the trail from the Ski Resort.  I didn’t get far before I came across a sign across the road - Stop - this road is closed to all foot and bicycle traffic.  Well that was just not on.  I couldn’t have come so far to be stopped by a sign so I pretended not to see it and off I went.  There were quite a few Squaw Valley trucks going up and down the road but no one said anything - we just waved at each other.

The view from the bottom of the trail is quite intimidating as all roads go up and fairly steeply at that.  It is 6,200 ft at the base and it rises to 8,750 ft at the top.  That is 2,550 feet in 4.5 miles.  It also gets a bit complicated as to which is the correct road to take.  The ski resort is a myriad of roads leading to the various lifts and lodges and work areas and apart from one sign I didn’t see a single mention of the Western States trail.  Fortunately I had sprung for a subscription to the All Trails iPhone app the night before and that had a course marked on it which allowed me to follow the approximate route.  The map however was just a series of straight lines between various way points and in some places there weren’t many way points so again it was easy to get off course - which of course I did.

All roads are uphill

The ski resort is huge - it is the largest in California - and unfortunately in the denuded landscape of ski slopes at the end of summer it is not that pretty.   Monster lifts are everywhere and snow making machinery peppers the slopes not to mention the 3 or 4 large lodges.  To be honest it is a bit of an eyesore.

Approaching the Emigrant Pass

As you can imagine the run was not much of a run, it was a brisk walk with lots of stops to check the route and get my breath back.  Near the top I struggled to find the pass over to the other side.  The route I was following seemed to be taking me to the top, then all of a sudden I was too far south.  I corrected and went back and then I was too far north.  I almost gave up until I took the time to study the map more carefully.  I finally figured it out and I made it up the last slope to the pass, Emigrant Pass, where there is a monument marking the spot but not visible until you are right on it.  

Emigrant Pass

It was a pleasure to be done with the ascent for a while and there was a gentle downhill from there into the Granite Chief Wilderness Area.  It was the end of summer and the slopes were covered with dried Corn Lily leaves.  When the wind blew, the leaves rustled in an eerie way making me look around for mountain lions waiting to pounce.   I had just watched a YouTube video of a hiker being threatened by a mountain lion so I was a bit more aware.  I decided I needed a weapon and I found a sharp angular piece of granite that just fit in my hand that I thought would give me some sort of ability to defend myself.  I had also been talking to one of my fellow runners about letting the lions know you are coming by singing or shouting or letting out some noise.   Running with Tourette’s she calls it.  My voice is not strong at the best of times so I soon gave up on that.

Granite Chief Wilderness

The trail through the Granite Chief was not particularly good - it was narrow and twisty, rocky and rubbly and just difficult to run.  I had expected it to be more well defined and well used and more runnable.  Still the countryside was beautiful and the trail traversed along the south facing side of the valley dropping down along the way.

The turnaround spot

I had determined that I would do around 10 miles out that day which should have taken me to somewhere near the Lyon Ridge Aid Station.   I wasn’t really sure I had found the aid station area as there are no roads in there but after just over 10 miles I decided to call it a day and head back.  I made it out in 4.5 hrs which I was surprised to find was 1 hour under the cutoff on race day.  The big difference being, I was pretty tired and running another 95 miles was not on the books for me.  In fact running back up the trail things deteriorated.  I got very tired and while much of the trail was not steeply downhill, there were parts that were and they seemed to be more common than I had noticed coming down the hill.  I didn’t enjoy this section at all and I kept going over the options of what to do if I just couldn’t make it back up the hill.  There were no good options in that scenario.

Granite Chief Wilderness

So it was a slow and tortuous struggle to get back up the hill to Emigrant Pass.  I did lots of resting and very little running.  It was slow going but eventually I did make it up the last bit of slope to Emigrant Pass.  It was nice to then make some better progress jogging down the trail for a while.  Of course I again got off track and had to bushwhack across the hill to get to the road that would take me down.  This time I took the more main road on the way down (longer distance but not so steep).  The long downhill jarred the joints and punished the feet in my grit filled shoes but I eventually made it and jogged into the parking lot of the resort.  

The remains of my still warm coffee from the flask and a clean shirt and socks made me feel a lot better.  I drove home and got in around 8:00 pm.  That was 14 hours door to door.  9.5 hrs out on the trail for only 20 miles.   That looks pathetically slow but I know it was some serious achievement for little old me.